A solar-power project set to open next month in Nevada has fried 130 birds during tests and will soon join another solar farm in California in avian incineration. If as many birds being burned by solar power farms built in the U.S. were to wash up on our beaches soaked in crude oil from a leaking offshore well, the outrage would be deafening. But as with the wind turbines that now cover acre upon acre of former "pristine" countryside, what amount to avian Cuisinarts slicing and dicing everything that flies, including endangered species, only the crickets are chirping. House Minority...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) ó Just hours after Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber announced his decision to resign, a subpoena arrived in a state office building confirming that federal agents are looking into the influence-peddling scandal that led to the abrupt end of a four-decade political career. The Democratic governor gave in to mounting pressure Friday, abandoning his office amid suspicions that his live-in fiancťe used her relationship with him to land contracts for her green-energy consulting business. His resignation, which takes effect Wednesday, cleared the way for Secretary of State Kate Brown to assume Oregon's highest office and become the nation's...

Renewables, are not just inefficient, unnecessary, and deadly to wildlife, but they were also a disaster of planning and management. The list of dollars and euros destroyed in the Glorious Renewables Quest has gone ďnuclearĒ. The World Economic Forum estimates $100 billion Euro has been wasted, but its even worse than it looks. I had to read their opening sentence twice. I thought it read ďEuropean countries could have saved approximately $100 billion if each country had invested in the most efficient energy source.Ē I was thinking they could have saved that sort of money by using coal instead of...

Oregonís top Democrats urged Gov. John Kitzhaber to resign Thursday, saying he cannot lead the state effectively amid a growing ethics scandal involving his fiancťe, a green-energy consultant accused of using her relationship with the governor to land contracts for her business. Senate President Peter Courtney said he and House Speaker Tina Kotek asked Kitzhaber, a Democrat who recently started his fourth term, to step down. ďI finally said, ĎThis has got to stop,íĒ Courtney told reporters after he and Kotek met with the governor. ďI donít know what else to do right now. It seems to be escalating. It...

One of the nationís largest solar projects was dedicated Monday in the Riverside County desert, as California rushes to expand its use of green power to meet the stateís renewable energy requirements. The dedication of the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm comes about a month after Gov. Jerry Brown called on the state to increase renewable electricity use to 50 percent by 2030, up from the current goal of 33 percent by 2020. [Ö] The plant, which uses photovoltaic panels, is expected to produce enough power for about 160,000 homes. Constructed on about 4,000 acres of federal land, it is owned...

In 2009, Ventower Industries issued a press release with the headline, ďAnother ARRA Success Story Ė New Funds Mean More Jobs in Monroe.Ē The news was that Ventower, which was supposed to make wind turbine towers and bases, had been given $2.5 million by the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or the "stimulus" package. U.S. Congressmen John Dingell called it a ďwatershed moment.Ē In 2010, the News Herald newspaper in Southgate called Ventower Industries ďanother successful project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment ActĒ because it had received a $2.3 million grant and $1.2 million...

On paper, the pitch was simple: A green energy company backed by $217 million in U.S. government loans would convert one of Africaís poorest countries into the worldís first biomass-driven economy. But the plan to help Liberia collapsed amid questionable business decisions and oversight. The company, Buchanan Renewables, dismissed 600 workers and left the country amid complaints of workplace injuries, environmental harm and, at times, sexual abuse. Backing the company at every stage was the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a federal agency with a global mandate but low profile. The agency approves more than $3 billion a year in financing,...

Trudeau's Promises: Like the numerous wind turbines sucking wealth from Ontariansí pockets these promises of easy wealth, like smoke, will dissipate into nothingness Pierre Trudeauís son has attempted to put the shine back on the Liberal fire engine by holding a two-day retreat in southwestern Ontario, a part of the province that in recent years has lost a spate of manufacturing jobs. The Liberals are hoping to highlight the Harper Conservativesí poor stewardship of the Canadian economy by focusing on Ontarioís rust belt. Kathleen Wynne replaced McGuinty, and continues to run the Liberal Party/Public Sector Union oligopoly Good luck with...

Solar panels are being installed on the roofs of homes and businesses all across America at a record pace. The fad is the latest way for families to "go green" ó the energy equivalent of blue recycling bins. The Solar Energy Industries Association likes to tout the industry's "amazing success" ó but it's holding a "Shout Out For Solar" social media event Friday as it sees an "uncertain future." That's because its continued success depends on a cascade of government subsidies, including a 30% federal investment credit that expires at the end of 2016. Guess what? Taxpayers are paying for...

The fiscal impact of the ethanol mandate is huge ó Michaels estimated it totals ďbillions, easilyĒ in direct and indirect money ó but it has come under attack by liberals as well as conservatives and appears to have lost some of its clout on Capitol Hill. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency ó which administers the Renewable Fuel Standard ó is considering a cut to the amount of ethanol blended into the nationís gasoline supply. ... a growing number of environmentalists want the ethanol requirement eliminated, too. ... In 2007, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law...

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Nissan Leaf owner Will Price of Eugene doesn't need the network of government-provided electric vehicle charging stations that were installed for motorists like him. Price drives 14 miles to and from work, which is easily within his electric car's 70-mile range, so he ignores the publicly accessible fast-charging units scattered around Eugene-Springfield. "I never use them," Price said of the public chargers. "They are of no consequence to me."

In a new study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences University of Minnesota researchers report in various scenarios that vehicles using alternative fuels are often more harmful to human health than are conventional gasoline-powered automobiles. From the abstract: We find that powering vehicles with corn ethanol or with coal-based or ďgrid averageĒ electricity increases monetized environmental health impacts by 80% or more relative to using conventional gasoline. PNAS The AP reported: "It's kind of hard to beat gasoline" for public and environmental health, said study co-author Julian Marshall, an engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. "A...

Peru has vowed to prosecute Greenpeace activists after they allegedly damaged the world-famous Nazca lines during an environmental publicity stunt. Activists from the group unfurled cloth letters spelling out a green energy slogan at the millennia-old site on Monday, adjacent to where the figure of a hummingbird is etched into the ground. Peru has said the activists damaged the ground by leaving footprints, which could last for thousands of years. ďItís a true slap in the face at everything Peruvians consider sacred,Ē Luis Jaime Castillo, the deputy culture minister, said. In a statement, the Peruvian culture ministry said: "After the...

Google is literally and figuratively pulling the plug on its investment in renewable energy because the technology doesn't work. Will its flop persuade the feds to stop dumping billions down this rat hole? Back in 2007 Google commanded star-spangled headlines with its new high-tech venture to go all in on the next big thing in technology: green renewable energy. The tech giant was saluted as a good corporate citizen for its initiative to help combat global warming. In launching the project, company executives boasted they would prove that wind and solar power were not just good for the environment, but...

So much for momentum on climate change. Reality bites. Without nuclear power, Japans emissions have hit a new record high. At the same time, even with 17% of its energy from Nuclear power, and with 23,000 wind turbines, Germany stands no chance of reaching its emissions targets. The rich, technologically advanced nation that has spent more than any other on green energy admits theyíve failed. Those who want to stop producing CO2 have billions of dollars to spend on advertising and pointless windmills, but in the end, chemistry and physics canít be bought. If renewables could provide cheap reliable power,...

Audi Announces It‚Äôs ‚ÄėMastered‚Äô Hydrogen, Unveils First Fuel Cell Vehicle Giuseppe Macri 3:23 PM 11/19/2014 13 13 ¬† ¬† ¬†¬†¬† Audi announced it has mastered hydrogen fuel cell technology at the LA Auto Show Wednesday, where the company unveiled its new sustainable model ‚ÄĒ the A7 Sportback h-tron quattro.The German auto giant‚Äôs new entry into the plug-in hybrid market features a hydrogen fuel cell and twin electric motor drivetrain in the front and rear of the vehicle, which can carry the car some 341 miles between three-minute refuelings. The electric battery alone can carry the car about 31 miles on...

The US Department of Energy loans guarantee programme has made more from interest payments than it lost on failed companies such as Solyndra. Figures released by the department this week show it is on track to make more than US$5 billion profit by the time it closes with US$810 million it has received to date, exceeding the US$780 million in losses from companies that defaulted.

"................The ongoing economic suicide of Europe is based on a faulty understanding of the climate issue by most Western politicians and on their extreme policy response, based on emotion rather than logic and science. The major European economies have reacted irrationally to contrived,unjustified fear of imagined global-warming disasters...[SNIP]One may ask:Is there any way to stop this steamroller? Thereís probably little hope that such an initiative can come from Europe;it may have to come from the United States. Somehow we would have to convince European leaders that their policies, based on global-warming fears, are mistaken. That job may prove to be...

Bowie Resource Partners says it has eliminated 150 jobs at the Bowie #2 coal mine near Paonia. ... Last year the shutdown of another mine in the region caused nearly 300 people to lose their jobs. That coal mine is in Somerset. In the release, Bowie says it will provide the 150 laid off workers with 60 days of wages and benefits.

Public Enemy No. 1 for rural Utah sheriffs just happens to be a fellow peace officer: Dan Love, the Bureau of Land Managementís special agent in charge. Elected law enforcement officers from Nephi to Blanding call him an arrogant and dishonest bully who has little regard for local authority and dodges accountability, derailing a collaborative approach to police work on the stateís federal lands. Love reportedly just laughed when Garfield County Sheriff James "Danny" Perkins relayed ranchersí complaints about federal officers removing plastic feed tubs from the range and threatening the ranchers with litter citations. He drew early controversy during...

LPEA customers oppose upcharge for visiting homes.. La Plata Electric Association ... A frequent comment was the impression that the switch from analog to Advanced Metering Infrastructure Ė or so-called smart meters Ė that started in late 2013 was done without informing customers. Several people said they learned about smart meters from neighbors or only because they were at home when an LPEA technician arrived to switch out the analog meter. The alleged secrecy eroded public trust, they said. About 300 LPEA customers have chosen not to have the latest meter-reading technology installed. A number of speakers cited health problems,...

(CNSNews.com) - The United Mine Workers of America held a rally Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to protest Environmental Protection Agency regulations that they claim would destroy the nationís coal industry and coal-related jobs while doing nothing to address climate change. On Tuesday, current and retired workers convened at Freedom Plaza, then marched to EPA offices to protest EPAís proposed Clean Power Plan, part of President Obamaís larger climate-change agenda, which aims to cut carbon pollution by imposing state-by-state emissions standards and fines for failure to meet those standards. CNSNews.com asked protesters, ďIf you could tell President Obama anything about these...

WASHINGTON -- Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said Friday that she believes most states will ultimately comply with her agency's proposed new rules on carbon emissions. The rules, which were released earlier this year and are supposed to be finalized by June 2015, set new limits, specific to each state, on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Each state, however, will need to develop its own plan for meeting those standards. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA can impose its own plans on states that choose not to submit one, and can legally compel states to follow those...

Gina McCarthy insists reducing carbon emissions, fighting climate change boost economyGina McCarthy argued Thursday that her home state of Massachusetts is proof you can cut greenhouse gas emissions while fostering economic prosperity, but the Environmental Protection Agency administrator failed to mention the apparent trade-off for consumers: dramatically higher electricity prices. In a speech promoting President Obamaís climate change agenda, Ms. McCarthy ignored the fact that New England states ó which nearly a decade ago formed the nationís first regional ďcap and tradeĒ system ó are dealing with electricity rates more than 35 percent higher than the national average. She also...

Green groups are fearful of Republicans winning the Senate majority in November, predicting it could lead to a ďwhittling awayĒ of environmental regulations at the hands of GOP leaders. While environmental groups are spending millions of dollars trying to save the Senate for Democrats, they acknowledge the possibility that they could be forced to play defense against an all-Republican Congress in 2015. ďI think that the wholesale repeal of environmental legislation, repealing [Environmental Protection Agency] greenhouse gas authority, things like that, thatís unlikely to happen,Ē said Ben Schreiber, director of the climate program at Friends of the Earth. ďIt is...

Four years ago, Kirk Swallow received state money to set up a compressed natural gas filling facility at the Rifle Shell station he co-owns. The Colorado Energy Office, then under Gov. Bill Ritter and known as the Governorís Energy Office, gave Swallowís company a $675,000 grant ó money from fines collected from companies that violated state regulations. Swallow said he chipped in about $300,000. But, in June, Swallow had to permanently shut down the CNG pumps at 101 Railroad Ave., in Rifle, Colo. He said he was losing money because of increased competition, excessive electricity fees to run the pumps...

PUEBLO, Colo. - Black Hills executives heard another earful from its customers during a hearing on its proposed rate increase. "I'm mad as hell about these rate increases," said Frank Soudek. "Reasonably priced power. That's what we're asking for," said Lee Gladney. Black Hills wants to increase utility rates by 4 percent starting next year to make up for the construction cost of a wind farm in Huerfano County.

Thousands of birds are flying into a new solar "mega-trap" in the middle of California's Mojave Desert, killing the avian lot at a rate of up to one bird every two minutes, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The state-of-the-art Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), which opened in February, is the world's largest solar plant to utilize "power towers," skyscraping structures that receive beams of focused solar rays to generate electricity. At Ivanpah, the sun's ray's are redirected from a sea of more than 300,000 mirrors on the desert surface below to hit water filled boilers...

Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant's concentrated sun rays ó "streamers," for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair. Federal wildlife investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one "streamer" every two minutes, --SNIP-- The bird kills mark the latest instance in which the quest for clean energy sometimes has inadvertent environmental harm. Solar farms have been criticized for their impacts on desert tortoises, and wind farms have killed...

the insane ways that the VA focused on solar energy and wind towers over vets. Three years before Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki would be forced out of his job because of the veterans who had died under him, he visited the Massachusetts National Cemetery. He wasnít there to see the men and women who had died because of him. While vets were dying, Obama and Shinseki had turned their attention to something truly important; seeing to it that all the cemeteries where they were being buried had wind or solar power. ... The cemetery turbine had cost $533,000....

The price of a stabilized green power grid is very steep, one could say it is like a ďhockey stickĒStory submitted by Eric Worrall† (h/t John Droz)Coal and gas electricity companies are being paid up to 400x times the wholesale price of power, in return for helping to stabilize the German electricity grid.According to Bloomberg, ďGermanyís push toward renewable energy is causing so many drops and surges from wind and solar power that the government is paying more utilities than ever to help stabilize the countryís electricity grid.Ē ďAt the beginning, this market counted for only a small portion of...

I donít think Gina McCarthy had thought this through. McCarthy to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee: ďAnd the great thing about this proposal is it really is an investment opportunity. This is not about pollution control. Itís about increased efficiency at our plantsÖItís about investments in renewables and clean energy. Itís about investments in peopleís ability to lower their electricity bills by getting good, clean, efficient appliances, homes, rental units,Ē ďThis is an investment strategy that will really not just reduce carbon pollution but will position the United States to continue to grow economically in every state, based...

Renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, continues to set records for electicity generation and installed capacity in many parts of the world, and as shown in Figure 1 wind and solar growth in recent years has indeed been quite spectacular:~~snip~~If decarbonization is to be achieved by expanding renewables the expansion will have to come in wind, solar and biomass. So letís take hydro out and see how far growth in wind, solar and biomass has carried us along the decarbonization path so far:Clearly they still have a long way to go.

Sarah Palin is right. Obama losing Lois Lernerís emails is worse than Nixon erasing 19 minutes of tape. Two years of emails is much more significant than 19 minutes of conversation. But then Obamaís just being Obama. If the IRS would only turn over the hard drive of Lois Lerner, I would happily be able to restore those lost two years of data. Do you know how hard it is to permanently delete data off of a hard drive? Very hardÖ youíd have to deliberately do it. It would be kind of like spending $1 trillion on shovel ready...

The VA Scandal began at the Phoenix VA Health Care System where administrators earned promotions and bonuses by shunting patients who needed treatment into fake waiting lists. As many as 40 veterans had died while waiting for care and 1,715 veterans in the Phoenix VA Health Care System had waited more than 90 days for an appointment. A retired Navy serviceman died of bladder cancer after being put on a 7-month waiting list after blood was found in his urine. He finally received an appointment a week after his death.

Itís bad enough that American taxpayers have been repeatedly fleeced by President Obamaís many failed ďgreenĒ projects, now the commander-in-chief is dedicating an extra $2 billionóon top of $2 billion already dispersed in 2011óto make federal buildings in the United States energy efficient. Itís a necessary expense to protect the planet, according to the global warming movement spearheadedóand largely fundedóby the U.S. government and much of the international community. This particular investment will cut carbon pollution by more than 380 million metric tons, according to a White House announcement. Thatís equivalent to removing 80 million cars from roads for a...

The Department of Defense (DOD) paid $150 per gallon for alternative jet fuel made from algae, more than 64 times the current market price for standard carbon-based fuels, according to a report released on Wednesday. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted in its report that a Pentagon official reported paying ďabout $150 per gallon for 1,500 gallons of alternative jet fuel derived from algal oil.Ē GAOís report examined the financial challenges facing increased purchases and use of alternative jet fuels by federal agencies. ďCurrently, the price for alternative jet fuels exceeds that of conventional jet fuel,Ē the report noted. The...

An adorable baby bald eagle whose parents were executed by solar panels. (AP) The Obama administration has opened up a new front in its war on Americaís eagles. For years, the president has relied on wind turbines to orchestrate his eco-genocide. Biologists estimate that wind farms kill as many as 328,000 birds each year by chopping them out of the sky. The administrationís successful weaponization of solar farms will only accelerate the death rate. Studies indicate that the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California has proved to be an especially efficient apparatus for eagle extermination. The facility, which...

Smith Electric was the future of the UK. Then it was the future of America. Now maybe it can be the future of Zimbabwe or Syria. Or some other sucker country.The Obama economy would look a lot like the Soviet economy if instead of building non-working third rate versions of Western technologies, the USSR had spent all its time trying to make a car that runs on dreams and pixie dust.Say what you will about the Lada, but at least they managed to make more than 500 of them.Smith had a long strange and troubled history and essentially we...

Only a few weeks after President Obama's controversial decision to delay the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, the Obama administration is expected in the next several weeks to approve a 500-mile green energy transmission line project running through Arizona and New Mexico that his own Defense Department says may pose "an unacceptable risk to national security." The multibillion-dollar electric power line project, financed by a group called SunZia, would connect wind power facilities in eastern New Mexico to the electric grid and supply power to Arizona and California. About 45 miles of the transmission lines would be located in...

The Bureau of Land Management is attempting to shut down the Bundy Ranch to clear the path for massive solar energy developments in southern Nevada that will enrich an A-list of well-connected Democrats close to President Obama, Al Gore, Bill Clinton and others. Completely unreported however, a scandal of epic proportions has been brewing with yet another Democrat-connected recipient of ďgreen energyĒ stimulus funds. The Spain-based conglomerate Abengoa operates close to 600 subsidiaries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia, and has received $3.6 billion in loans and grants in direct violation of President Obamaís "Recovery Act" promise...

em>"Probably for the next decade, the most dominate technology around the world will be coal..." -Jeff Immelt The fastest growing source of energy in the world last year was coal, and it is going to stay that way for a very long time. With that in mind, one has to wonder why President Obama has insisted on the gut-wrenching destruction of the coal industry that has costs thousands of jobs, and has sent electricity costs to all-time highs. This, combined with last month's report from the International Energy Agency, state that reaching the goal of carbon emission reduction would cost...

Can Opinion Turn Against Not-So-Jolly Green Giant?How much of a toll on the American economy does the green movement have to charge before Americans start to wake up to the dastardliness of radical environmentalism? Last month we saw firsthand one impact of Big Green on our economy with the White House announcement that the Keystone XL pipeline won't be built for at least six more months. Ten thousand blue collar jobs, almost all paying more than $50,000 a year, down the drain. It's a project that polls show almost all Americans want, except for the deep-pocketed green elite in Hollywood,...

I fear that this will not end well. Via Reuters: Segolene Royal, appointed French energy and environment minister this month, said on Friday she planned to create 100,000 jobs in the next three years with a drive for green growth.Royal told a news conference she wanted to accelerate investment in renewable energies like wind, solar, biomass and marine energy, as well as in insulation of buildings. ‚Ä¶‚ÄúI consider that, in the current context, the quasi-automatic increases of power bills are too brutal,‚ÄĚ she said, adding that her cabinet was studying a new decree to control energy bills in the coming...

Solarís getting cheaper, but it can never be a big reducer of carbon emissions.Solar energy can solve global warming. Thatís what Paul Krugman claims in his April 18 column in the New York Times, ďSalvation Gets Cheap.Ē Krugman extolled ďthe incredible recent decline in the cost of renewable energy, solar power in particular.Ē He used to dismiss the claim that renewable energy would be a major source of global energy ďas hippie-dippy wishful thinking.Ē But now, he says, thanks to the falling price of renewable energy, the process of decarbonization can be accelerated and ďdrastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions...

Failed Policy: The federal government has spent some $100 billion in taxpayer subsidies on green energy since 2006. Now we are seeing the flimsy and declining returns on that investment. The wind industry saw its growth tumble by 92% last year, according to a new report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), and that's off of a very low base to begin with. Big Wind blames the decline in output on uncertainty over the future of a federal wind industry tax credit ó an absurdly generous subsidy of 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour produced. This handout is what keeps...

Look for a Climate Credit from the State of California on Your April Utility Bill This month your electricity bill will include a credit identified as the "California Climate Credit." Twice a year, in April and October, your household and millions of others throughout the state will receive this credit on your electricity bills. The Climate Credit is a payment to Californians from a program designed to fight climate change by limiting the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that our largest industries put into the atmosphere. This program is one of many developed as a result of landmark legislation called...

The son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Rory Reid, is the primary representative for ENN Energy Group, a Chinese energy company seeking to build a $5 billion solar panel plant on a 9,000-acre Clark County desert plot in Laughlin, Nevada. ENN scored big when Clark County commissioners unanimously voted to sell the Chinese company the public land for just $4.5 million, despite the fact that it was appraised at $38.6 million. Sen. Reid has been one of ENNís biggest supporters, having recruited the company during a 2011 trip to China. According to Reuters, last month Sen. Reid tried...

The ranch, which has been in Cliven Bundyís family for more than a century, is ground zero for a growing showdown between federal authorities and individual rights activists.VideoAs a family in Clark County, Nev. continues to face an onslaught of heavily armed federal agents determined to kick them off of their ranch, reports have surfaced that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might be behind the entire ordeal. The ranch, which has been in Cliven Bundyís family for more than a century, is ground zero for a growing showdown between federal authorities and individual rights activists. Despite attempting to silence protesters...

In the summer of 2012, when Marita Noon and I began our collaboration in exposing the entire green corruption scheme, we covered a favored White House Spanish conglomerate in our piece "How Democrats Say 'Crony Corruption' in Spanish: Abengoa." Early this year, we received bombshell testimony, coupled with substantiated documentation, that Abengoa, at least at one of their three projects funded with billions of U.S. taxpayer money from President Obamaís 2009-Recovery Act, has broken stimulus laws and DOE loan stipulations. Worse, what we uncovered is that this foreign-owned firm has engaged in chilling, unethical and potentially criminal activity, including, but...